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Webinar on Climate Change Communication

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For my final climate change communication project, I decided to host a webinar on basic principles of climate change communication. Since this topic has become so heavily polarized , it’s apparent that we need to communicate more effectively about it. The information I’ve learned in this class is so valuable, and I wanted to share it with an audience that would also find it useful. I coordinated with the U.S. Climate Strike Coalition to host my webinar on the Social Community Series . This group has a compilation of online events, the purpose of which is to share and learn from one another during this unprecedented time. In my webinar, I included a presentation about important concepts of climate communication, a discussion, and a Q&A led by Professor Huxster and myself.  I began creating the presentation by narrowing down what concepts I thought would be most useful for this group of activists, keeping in mind I wanted to put it in a concise format of about 20 minut...

Protect the Reefs

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Infographics for Solar Power Awareness in Florida

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Solar Power Awareness Info-Graphics I decided to make a series of info-graphics to share the current status, the future, and how to make personal changes in the solar power industry. The people that I had selected to send this series of info-graphics ranged from a selection of friends and family members. Solar power stands to be one of the prominent substitutes in replacement of non-renewable energy resources such as coal and oil. My info-graphics were designed in order to change the frame of the message to be more relatable and present more tangible strategies. Simple messages that provide methods of how to personally change their lifestyles provide the motivation to enact change on the greater scale. Smaller actions help increase the larger movement in the effort to combat climate change. Info-Graphics Responses I received a variety of different responses from the people who received the info-graphics. The younger generation of people had the tendency to support the increas...

Podcast for Communicating Climate Change in Michigan

         For my culminating action project for my Climate Change Communication class, I decided to make a casual podcast about climate change information and how it affects people locally in Michigan. With all of the media that is easily accessible and blasted at people everyday, it is hard to know whether you are receiving the correct information or not. O ne of my goals with this project was to raise awareness on how to spot non-trustworthy sources and legitimate sources when receiving information about climate change but also just in general. This is an especially large problem for climate change and how it is communicated.There is a big disconnect with the way scientists are taught how to relay information and the way that the public perceives it and this disconnect can lead to the information being misinterpreted. Everyone’s personal and social experience affects how they process information. One of the main problems in creating communication pieces to disc...

Climate and Commuting Infographic

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Climate and Commuting Infographic For my project, I decided to make an infographic to share some of the benefits of working from home with my coworkers and some of the business owners that I know. I believe that having a comprehensive conversation with a few people whom I could readily influence was more effective than if I had sent my infographic to a greater number of people whom I had never met. One of the major comments that I have noted on social media a of late is that it is difficult to frame climate change as an important issue right now. As a global catastrophe rages that has changed the lives of billions of people, it is becoming more difficult to think about the other global catastrophe we are facing.  As we have discovered repeatedly in "What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming," people don't like to think about climate change.  What's amazing about this moment in time, is that many of the "costs" that climate a...

Climate Communication White Paper

      Composing an information report on the vital aspects of Dr. Huxster's Climate Change Communication class allowed me to reflect on what we have learned in class. The number of papers we have discussed and directed cannot be summarized, yet the most vital pieces of information are laid bare in the report. In a letter to Connecticut's Governor, Ned Lamont, I offered my opinion as to why I feel the essence of climate communication is vital to creating the benefits in the community. In the letter, I made sure to tell him that he has done a great job of continuing the necessary steps of ensuring a green future. What I wanted him to do with the information in the white paper was to disseminate it in a way to his team members, such as board members of local councils and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. This would facilitate their battles because going forward from a psychological and cognitive advantage can sharpen the senses in debates. Too often agg...

Climate Awareness Book for Kids

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Climate change Is an urgent problem and to tackle this is of the most importance. This book is aimed to bring an awareness of the world we live in to children, it is aimed towards kids of the ages 7-13. Here is a link to a version of the book that allows you to flip through page by page like a book. https://www.paperturn-view.com/us/birthdayesi/kids-awareness-book-final-pdf-10-may?pid=ODk89890 The book was divided into sections to correspond with the main colors of the spectrum of light, starting with red. Red has components such as uncertainty, worry and lower energy. That’s why I chose to correspond this color with the ‘Did you know’ page. I wanted there to be a gradual transition from facts to hope which is most prevalent at the end pages and the last paragraphs of each section. The last color which is Indigo corresponds with the ‘Projects’ page. This is color is associated with higher energy (high frequency and vibrations of rays of light on the spectrum). All illustra...

Letters for Change

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For my culminating communication project, I decided to combine essential class concepts with a tried and true method of individual action: letter writing. Effectively combating climate change will require significant institutional shifts likely through policy changes, and writing letters to representatives provides a concrete, bottom-up method of pushing for this action. I had always avoided this form of activism in the past due to fears of sounding uninformed and thinking that it would take too long, so I saw this project as an opportunity to challenge myself to create targeted messages for specific government officials in hopes of spurring political action. Process Overall, my letter writing process consisted of identifying my individual audiences, developing a well-rounded understanding of each and their potential attitudes toward climate change, and choosing a specific call to climate change action that was valuable for the particular individual. I ultimately decided to w...